Lionel Kingfisher had to have seen the spirit as they got into the truck, Carmen was sure of it. The mortician’s eyes were locked onto the group, locked onto the spaces that Link stood the entire way. He didn’t say anything as he simply handed the purchased he’d made for Siren over to Sam with a glare in his eyes. Lucy stood awkwardly on the steps, waving goodbye as the truck backed down the path.

“He knows something,” Demi mentioned from the backseat where they sat with Link and a curious Siren who was trying to look out of the window.

“Yeah, he’s suspicious AF,” Sam said with a huff.

Carmen looked at him. “AF? What are you, twelve?”

“Shut up, tiny human,” Sam groaned as he popped open the buttons of his shirt.

Once they’d gotten down the road a ways, he breathed out a slow sigh that released a huff of smoke. His eyes turned back to their red hue, the sclera shifted from white to black, and his horns grew back.

“You good?” Carmen asked.

“Yeah, I kept that form a lot longer than I planned to. Need to let my body breathe a bit,” Sam replied as he rolled down the window to let the sulfuric smell go. The sigh he released was deep and slow.

Carmen saw his demonic tail slip out from behind his back and wiggle a bit as feeling came back into it. She turned back to the road and watched the dark clouds overhead. It would be a long drive back home.

Sam parked his truck in the packed parking lot at the entrance to Brittle Brush. The Oddfellows offered to help unload Siren’s new items and help Link get into the apartment, with Sam trailing behind to change not only into better fitting clothes but his demonic shape.

Carmen unlocked her apartment door and set Siren down. Poppy, the unbothered king that he was, simply meowed and flopped over before stretching across the rug. More interested in pets and attention than the new cat in the room. Demi walked Link inside as the reaper set the new bag of food and the Halloween themed bowl Lionel had obviously picked out because it reminded him of Link in the kitchen.

“Do you have any suggestions for how we can keep Link from falling through the floor?” Carmen asked.

Demi set a hand against their chin in thought. “I would ask the folks at the witch supply shop to see if they have any rugs you could cover the floor with or bangles Link could wear that might help keep him stabilized. Sadly, my witching knowledge is limited to my specialty, but it may be worth taking him out and having someone with more expertise in the spiritual looking him over. Or you could ask Giles—”

Carmen groaned. “Yes, let’s have the failed reaper go ask the veteran for help.”

“Honestly, it might be better to not have Link be on the other reaper’s radars,” Sam said as he walked into the apartment with a bucket of litter and a new cat bed in his hands. He’s changed into his demonic form and a pair of sweatpants with a hoodie. “Cute place.”

“You think the other reapers would have issues with him being here?” Demi asked their husband.

“Possibly? Giles not so much but Monique? Yeah, she’s a stickler for the rules and would probably try to intervene,” he replied. “Since we don’t have a lot of information about Link’s death and why he’s still lingering, and since the strange little human doesn’t have a good grasp of her reaper powers—”

“I have a name,” Carmen groaned.

“And I refuse to use it,” Sam scoffed. “Strange little human sucks at her job so we don’t need to invite any trouble. If there’s a non-local reaper you could call I’d suggest doing that instead. In the meantime, try to let Mr. Crane rest while we do some digging. My amazing, beautiful, tall drink of water needs to open the speakeasy and I have to let my body adjust to being in its normal form. We’ll touch base in a day or two once we’ve had time to do our thing.”

“Which is… what, exactly?” Carmen asked.

Demi held up a torn piece of paper from the notebook. “I’m going to see if I can figure out who had their hands on this.”

Carmen smirked. “You I like.” She turned to Sam. “I’ll tolerate you. Um… I have to go to work tomorrow and I’ll be gone for most of the day, would you mind coming to check on Link? I don’t really want to keep bringing him back and forth while he’s so unstable.”

“Of course. If you’d like to swing by on your way out and drop him off we’d be happy to keep him company. Please call us if Mr. Crane remembers anything in the interim,” Demi said with a smile.

The Oddfellows left with waves and smiles. Carmen closed the door and locked it, then pulled the frame and pen from her coat pocket. She set the frame on the end table beside the sofa along with the pen. Link’s spirited brightened when he saw them.

“Thank you, that means a lot. I’m sorry for being such a bother,” Link said softly.

“You’re not a bother at all. We’ll be stuck together for a while, I’d imagine, so I want it to be comfortable for you. Siren already seems to be making herself at home,” Carmen said as she went to grab her laptop.

Something Sam had said got her thinking, and she needed to look up a phone number. Once she found it, she dialed the number and put the call on speaker. It range a handful of times then connected.

“Wylder Family Cemetery and Mortuary, how can I be of service?” the drawl-filled voice inquired.

“Hi, this may be a super weird question, but is the head Wylder available?” Carmen asked.

“Can I ask what it’s in regard to?”

“Yeah, sorry, I’m part of the McIntyre clan and I have a weird spirit situation that I need some advice on.”

“Pumpkin! There’s a reaper on the phone!” the voice called out. “Gimme just one second and I’ll get you connected.”

“Thanks!”

Carmen waited until another voice entered the conversation. “This is Casper, how can I help?”

“Hi, my name is Carmen McIntyre. I’m a reaper in Brittle Brush, I think our fathers may have gone to school together,” Carmen said as she finally sat down on her bed.

“Oh, yes, I do believe you are correct. What can I do for you, Carmen?”

“I have a weird situation that I was looking for some advice on. I suck at this reaper thing and the other reapers here are too intimidating—and may also make things worse—so I wanted to get an outside opinion. Recently, we had a… suspected murder happen and the victim arrived at the funeral home I work at. The victim’s spirit stuck around, and he’s… odd. He was a normal human, no supernatural lineage as far as we know, and he’s so unstable.”

“In what manner?”

“His emotions are so… charged, he’ll turn pitch black and complain of pains in his head. Anytime he tries to remember parts of his life he’ll shut down, go quiet. When he’s upset power flickers and windows rattle. It’s like he’s been cursed to not remember what happened to him. He keeps falling through floors, he can’t keep himself stabilized, he can’t hold onto things. But even with as bad of a reaper as I am I have zero pull to reap him, and neither of the other reapers in town seem to, either. We’re currently trying to investigate what happened to him but I don’t need an unstable spirit in my apartment.”

Cas went quiet for a moment. “How peculiar. And you’re sure he’s been murdered?”

“We found a note in his mouth with a demonic sigil when we did the autopsy,” Carmen replied.

“Well, that sure does sound suspicious,” the voice with the Southern accent replied.

“Hush, dear,” Cas chided. “But my husband is correct, that is indeed suspicious. If your wayward spirit is that volatile but still has unfinished business and doesn’t need to be sent on, it does lead one to believe that something not ordained by Death happened to him. A spirit with that level of chaos would have caught Death’s attention, be it Her own or via a reaper, so I can only assume something damaged his soul. It sounds as if something in his spiritual makeup was fractured, which is no easy feat to fix and could possibly grow worse if not treated.”

“What do you suggest we do?” Carmen asked.

“You said you’re in Brittle Brush, correct?”

“Yes.”

“I am unsure if it would be possible to get him to New Eden and the specialists at Penny Dread, but I would reach out to their spiritual studies professors tomorrow morning once they’re in their offices. In the meantime, if you have a ward or witchery shop I would try to find some calming items to help ease the aura of the space he’s occupying—sage or room sprays, crystals, incense—and pay close attention to how his spirit reacts to stress and stimuli. You’ll need to narrow down what parts of his soul are wounded. If you’re able, I’d also recommend calling Miss Eloise in Broochport. She’s a sigil and ward witch who also specializes in crystals so she might be able to help. I worry since you said the sigil found on the paper in his mouth was demonic that it won’t be a simple fix, and it might be dangerous to try and address too much all at once, so start small and ease him back to a state of calm. Keep notes, if you have a spirit camera I’d start to document how he looks so you can track changes. Hopefully that will help some until you’re able to get some answers.”

“That’s all helpful, thank you so much.”

“Of course, dear. Feel free to call again if you need or email me using the contact form on the website, especially if you’re able to get photographs. I, too, suck at this whole reaper thing but I have seen my fair share of messy spirits so I can at least offer some advice that will hopefully be beneficial.”

“I appreciate it. Have a good night!”

Cas bid her farewell and hung up the call. Carmen looked at Link who was sitting expectantly on the sofa. He’d almost kept himself from sinking into it this time. The young reaper closed her laptop and shot upright with a wide grin.

“Want to go shopping?”